One of the problems with achieving accuracy has been the recoil vibration occurring as the arrow is released from the bow, which has resulted also in undue noise which startles the game. Another factor affecting accuracy is the alignment of the bow string which in the past has not provided the balance desired. To the best of my knowledge, the arrow released by prior art compound bows has not been vertically centered with the result that the torque and flex stresses on the bow upper and lower limbs has not been balanced, and accuracy has been sacrificed as a result. Moreover, the bow string has not been centered in the sense of vertical upper and lower pulley alignment and in the sense of vertical bisection of the handle.
Typical archery bows of the type presently utilized are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,067 issued Nov. 21, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,841 issued Mar. 14, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,346 issued Jul. 4, 2000, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,351 issued May 12, 1998 wherein the compound bow utilizes eccentric pulleys on the outer ends of the limbs to facilitate the draw and the arrow release. The present invention is directed to bows of this general character.
The present invention, in one aspect thereof, is concerned with the manner of mounting the resilient limbs to the handle riser as well as to the vertically centered alignment of the pulleys mounting the bow string along with the handle, and the positioning of the bow rest to achieve a vertically centered arrow relationship. This permits the archer to utilize a better balanced bow which is more accurate. Because of the balanced relationship achieved, the archer is presented with less torqueing stresses in the bow and less vibration is transferred via the bow limbs upon limb recoil and arrow release. Moreover, the positioning of the arrow in vertically centered position provides equal torque and flex forces on the limbs to generate more stored energy as the bow string is drawn. Another aspect of the invention is the provision of eccentric pulley assemblies which aid in achieving these desired characteristics.
A further object of the invention is to provide a limb mounting system which results in material vibration reduction and accordingly much less noise generation in the release of the arrow. This is accomplished by securing the limb inner ends to the handle riser ends by means of a novel vibration damping assembly. A limb bolt extends into a threaded vibration damping member carried by the riser at each end and a limb cup, constructed of anti-vibration material, is snugly utilized between the seat and the sides and inner end, as well as the bottom, of each limb. The installed cushioning limb cup restricts the limb from shifting laterally, and forwardly or inwardly, while permitting the limbs to flex or unflex when the archer adjusts the attachment bolt to his desired draw requirements and thereby controls the energy which will be stored in the deflected resilient limbs when the bow string is drawn.